Dragoncrest Cliffs Bathed in salt

Chacal sent her daughter to fetch @Raelle, knowing that the two had spent time together while Raelle healed from her wounds. She was glad her daughter had found a companion in the fiery young wolf, someone her own age she could grow up with as a young woman. Suzu and her siblings had already received their peals long ago, when the snow had still coated the shoreside. Now, in the heat of summer, two more packmates would be given their own celebration and like all the others, Chacal and her sister @Mireille were excited to see the outcome. 

As always, five oysters were chosen, brought to the surface and placed on display, ready to be selected and opened until a pearl was found. In the shadow of the great stone arch they sat and waited for their summoned guest to arrive.

Suzu can be skipped!

She shuffled at as hurried of a pace as she would willingly go as she hunted Raelle down, whispering excitedly that her mother had decided that it was time again for Raelle to receive her promotion. She still wondered, from time to time, what colour pearl Raelle would have received if her first celebration had not gone so awry. The oysters had long been forgotten, in lieu of providing her some medical care but now, she would have a chance to try again.

"I hope yours be peach like mine!" She whispered in Raelle's ear as they approached Siren's Bay, before she stepped to the side to be a quiet, but excited witness.

the welcome of the pearls. mireille found herself elated, as if each oyster gleaned from the salt and each glowing orb revealed restored some part of her.
are you watching? she asked of brother and mothers, chin trembling. but today she would not cry, and would instead welcome raelle with a glinting smile when she arrived.

Her recovery had taken longer than she'd hoped. Rae still wasn't quite at her best; for all her stubborn will to survive, her health was a fragile thing, left unsteady by a childhood of neglect. The wound had healed slowly, and the fatigue lingered even now. She felt that her injury had taken much from her.
But there were some things that it had given her, too. She no longer felt that sting of jealousy when Lilia visited, that prickling feeling of inferiority. With nothing but time for the introspection Rae normally avoided so thoroughly, she'd come to realize that it was because —
Well, it was because of Suzu. That was as far as Rae allowed herself to follow the thought.
When Suzu found her she smiled, and she didn't think about the way the world around them seemed a little brighter, a little more colorful. Rae was often quiet of late; she listened to Suzu's excited whispers, and followed her with a brush of her nose against the other girl's shoulder. I hope so too, she thought, but hesitated until it was too late to say it.
Rae greeted the leaders with a smile. Hey, She glanced at the oysters, remembering the last time they'd attempted this. Peach, Raelle told herself, and looked back up to Chacal, waiting for her to explain how this would work.

You can go ahead and do your pearl rolls here!

The budding friendship between the young women made something swell within Chacal's heart. She had been fortunate to find both a sister and close friend in Mireille especially, and knew how beneficial it was to have someone to share secrets and pains with. Women, she felt, were especially capable of bearing those burdens, and helping each other flower in times of hardship. To welcome yet another into the rank of Lavanda made her beam with pride. 

"De time be 'ere for you,
to join us in our crew.
In Lavanda you will be,
following your pearl ceremony.

Choose t'ree oysters from dese 'ere,
an' open each to see what dey bear,
when you find a pearl it be yours to keep,
taken as a message from de deep."

chacal delivered all things in her beautiful voice, and mireille found herself studying raelle. was she ready for this? did she want it? by way of being woman, sapphique was prepared to embrace her entirely.
was she prepared for such an embrace?
but mireille did not doubt; she only waited to see, tail waving with open delight as she waited for the other to show whether she had procured pearls and how many.

Rae nodded once, and as she reached for the first oyster, she found that all thoughts of Suzu and a peach pearl fell away. She wasn't much like Suzu; that difference was what she liked about the other girl. Which meant that a peach pearl wouldn't suit her at all.

She stared at the first oyster for a moment. Was it a sign of failure to find nothing on the first attempt? Rae cast a brief glance at Chacal, then at Mireille and Suzu, and finally opened the oyster.

And there it was: red like her pelt, red like the essence of her spirit, bigger than she would have thought. Rae touched it lightly before lifting it to show her leaders, and Suzu. She waited for Chacal to explain what it meant — but she had a feeling she knew.

Suzu shuffled closer as Raelle hovered over her oysters, hoping to offer a bit of encouragement when she saw her friend waver for a moment. The one she chose crackled open, and Suzu's eyes widened as the flesh was pulled away revealing a pearl that for a moment, she thought might have a hint of peach- until it was pulled out and revealed. Suzu inhaled sharply, and panned through her memory only to find her grin widening. 

No one had become protector of the red pearl yet; Raelle was the very first. 

Of course, this was a ceremony so she couldn't just flounce about and scream, but she very much wanted to squeal in her bestie's ear about how cool her pearl was!

She looked upon the exchange between her daughter and Raelle fondly, glad that Suzu had another girl her own age to grow up with. She was distracted from the actual ceremony for a few moments, watching Suzu's expression, imagining perhaps that one day she might be one of the ones conducting the ceremony some day. When the expression on Suzu's face changed, Chacal leaned forward to see what Raelle had found, her lips opening slightly as she too saw the deep, blood-red of the pearl. 

The pack's very first red pearl. Her eyes lifted to Raelle, wondering if she would sense its significance. 

"Raelle, you be de keeper of de red pearl.
Dis hue indicates one who is strong, brave an' willful,
it means as a leader, you might be skillful. 
De size means you 'ave a big heart in you;
to your pack, Sapphique, you be true."

red.
mireille's smile smoothed for a moment of respectful, amused surprise. it bestowed immediate significance on raelle, and now she looked curiously at their newest accepted. 
sending a grin toward suzu, mireille nodded at raelle. "congratulations. dat be quite a find," in recognition of this new thing, one which proclaimed the woman a pillar of strength upon which the pack might rely as leadership. raelle had not been born to them, and so she wondered if this meant also that the mother sea wished new life from the sapphique wolf as well. it was the way in which one was truly bound as sister to the great salt ocean.
"de sea accepts you in dis new welcome. may sapphique forever be home to you."